Hello folks. It’s been a little while since I’ve done a review, because the book I’m currently reading (Stuck Rubber Baby by Howard Cruse) happens to be taking forever. But I’ll tell you all about that later…

In the meantime, I wanted to clue you in on something that people are often surprised to learn. Being that comic books are typically a fairly quick read (Stuck Rubber Baby notwithstanding), you may wonder how I can afford to be constantly churning through them. No, I’m not a famous comics blogger who gets free books and shwag sent to him by the publishers (although I am absolutely open to that idea – wink wink). In reality, I borrow all these books from my local library.

Yes, the odds are very good that your municipal library has a large selection of comic books just sitting there, waiting for your eager little fingers & eyes. I can’t speak for all libraries of course, but the Hennepin County Library here in Minneapolis must have literally thousands of titles, of which I’ve been slowly working my way through. They also let you search the catalog and reserve books online. They will transfer your requested books to the branch of your choice, and email you when they arrive. And you can renew online, and receive an email when your checked-out books are coming due. It couldn’t be much easier. As I said, that is the Hennepin County Library. Your own mileage may vary.

Let me illustrate what a great deal this is. If you were to purchase on Amazon.com the 30 wonderful comics listed in my favorite comics post, you would spend a minimum of around $465 – and that’s for used books and does not include shipping. However, I experienced all those excellent stories for exactly $0, and I even got a little exercise walking to the library and back.

Your tax dollars are paying for it, so find your local library and see what they have for comic books (they probably call them graphic novels). Yes, the library – it’s more than just a place for homeless people to hang out.